F.C. Brown was a physicist and inventor who created and supervised the development of education exhibits, most notably as organizing director of the New York Museum of Science and Industry (part of the Museums of the Peaceful Arts), 1926-1931. He was also curator of physics exhibits at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, 1932-1937. Much of Brown's scientific research focused on the element selenium. He invented the phonopticon, an improvement on the optophone (invented by Fournier d'Albe, 1912). Material focuses on Dr. Brown's professional life: correspondence, photographs, photo albums, scrapbooks, and ephemera from the positions he held and research he conducted. Very little personal information is included.

The Air Cushion Vehicles Collection consists of materials gathered by William R. Bertelsen and it highlights his interest in, and contributions to, the development of Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs). The bulk of the collection covers the span between 1960 and 1980, but materials before and after those dates are also present. The collection includes photographs, brochures, reports and proceedings, and a videotape on the topic of ACVs. Bertelsen's notebooks, documenting his research and development of air cushion technologies, constitute the majority of the collection.

Ralph H. Baer was a German-born ordnance specialist, inventor, and engineer. He was a pioneer of early videogame technology. The papers include autobiographical materials; firearms notes, manuscripts, and photographs; and videogame and television engineering notes, diagrams, schematics, and video documentation.

This accession consists of registrar cards that document objects acquired in the Division of Mechanical Technology, United States National Museum prior to 1912, when that Division was known as the Division of Technology reporting to the Department of Anthropology. Some of the cards also date to when Mechanical Technology was a section of ...

Samuel P. Langley (1834-1906) was the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Apparently, many of Langley's papers were accidentally burned after his death. Langley papers in the Smithsonian are housed in the Smithsonian Archives and the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). The Allegheny Observatory holds papers from Langley's ye...

The collection includes memoranda, notebooks, drawings, blueprints, photographs, and video cassette tapes related to the design, manufacture of the "first functionoid," Odex I. The documentation for Odex I and general and financial information on Odetics, Inc. consists of numerous publicity releases, photographs, press clippings and magazine artic...

The records document the work of consulting engineers and bridge builders, Ralph Modjeski (1861-1940) and Frank Masters (1883-1974) of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The collection, which consists of notebooks, journals, photographs, correspondence, memos, brochures, and technical drawings, is divided into three series: Sketches, Drawing Journals and Tests; Ram Company Materials; and Photographs. The papers were selected from among Mr. Steele's files by his son, Christopher. As a result, the papers included ...

A collection of items attributed to rocket pioneer James Hart Wyld dating from the 1930s and 1940s. The collection consists of two boxes, with one containing notes and prints attributed to Wyld and the other containing original negatives.

The collection is the result of Major Hammer's passion for amassing material related to aeronautics and technology, and it is arranged into eleven series: articles, clippings, correspondence, drawings and blueprints, leaflets, legislation, minutes, miscellaneous, photographs, programs and publications. Housed in 23 folders, the correspondence is the most comprehensive series, reflecting the original order which grouped the letters into series by topic. Much of the correspondence concerns the planning of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, and the involvement of Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss. There is also a scrapbook of black and white photographs providing front and side views of specified airplanes. Each page has 3 photos showing different views of the same plane accompanied by a label with additional information. (See written copy for details. Also, please see information written on 8x11 notebook paper.)